Milton Friedman Quotes

I’ve always been a little nervous about the Fed. Quite frankly, I’m a little nervous about the degree of their independence.

The Fed's independence is critical.

I don't have any influence over the Fed [Federal Reserve System], none at all. It's carefully isolated from any influence by the President or Congress.

The Federal Reserve is the overlord of the money supply. If these two are not steering in the same direction, they can either neutralize each other or have the economy lurching in all directions. This is not a rational system for setting economic policy. It has given us trouble in the past, as the text will establish, and will inevitably in the future.

In the United States we have, in effect, two governments ... We have the duly constituted Government ... Then we have an independent, uncontrolled and uncoordinated government in the Federal Reserve System, operating the money powers which are reserved to Congress by the Constitution.

There is a European Central Bank, of course, established and it has the structure similar to the Federal Reserve system, not precisely the same but similar.

The central bank needs to be able to make policy without short term political concerns.

The Fed's policy choices can always be debated, but the quality and commitment of the Federal Reserve as a public institution is second to none, and I am proud to lead it.

There's no other job in public life that is like chairman of the Fed.

Interest rates are used to achieve overall economic stability.

The principle that a central bank, charged with controlling inflation, should be independent from the government is unassailable. It may also be true that it's easier for the central bank to guard its independence from political pressure when it mainly holds government securities.

To some extent the Federal Reserve considers itself government. Other times, when it serves, it considers itself not government.

Most certainly it was a very wrong step to Crush the Private Bank, and set up this Publick Bank in its place

I don’t think that the Fed [Federal Reserve] ever can be or should be a prisoner of the markets.

It is the central bank governor, unlike other regulators or government secretaries, who has command over significant policy levers and has to occasionally disagree with the most powerful people in the country.

The IMF acts on the mandate of the international community.

Federal Reserve officials have stressed the importance of the Fed's independence. But such independence does not mean that it is immune from Congressional oversight.

My view was that government officials could not sit on the board of the central bank, and I am very happy that has been upheld.

I think that is a very important milestone in our economic history that the monetary policy is now determined through a committee process where there are both independent committee members and representation from the RBI.

In a democracy the responsibility for the Government's economic policies, which so affect the economy, normally rests with the elected representative of the people: in our case, with the President and the Congress. If these two follow economic policies inimical to the general welfare, they are accountable to the people for their actions on election day. With Federal Reserve independence, however, a body of men exist who control one of the most powerful levers moving the economy and who are responsible to no one.

It is no coincidence that the century of total war coincided with the century of central banking.

The power to determine the quantity of money... is too important, too pervasive, to be exercised by a few people, however public-spirited, if there is any feasible alternative. There is no need for such arbitrary power... Any system which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men, [so] that mistakes - excusable or not - can have such far reaching effects, is a bad system. It is a bad system to believers in freedom just because it gives a few men such power without any effective check by the body politic - this is the key political argument against an independent central bank.

Inflation is probably the most important single factor in that vicious circle wherein one kind of government action makes more and more government control necessary. For this reason all those who wish to stop the drift toward increasing government control should concentrate their effort on monetary policy.

We must not forget that … monetary policy all over the world has followed the advice of the stabilizers. It is high time that their influence, which has already done harm enough, should be overthrown.

In the past, Federal Reserve chairmen have not generally gone directly to the public.